035: How brand values can drive business growth w/ Samantha Martheze
How brand values can drive business growth.
With guest Samantha Martheze
Brand values — so much more than just words on a piece of paper.
In this episode I’m joined by fellow brand strategist Samantha Martheze (formerly Summerfield), who describes herself as an idea generator, communicator and motivator. An ex-corporate girl turned entrepreneur, Samantha is now on a mission to help successful, female, service-based entrepreneurs who want to attract their ideal clients and level up their business by creating an aligned and kick-ass brand.
In this episode we take a look at how brand values are more than just words on a piece of paper, and how they can (and should!) be a driver for business growth.
I’ve had conversations with business owners, they can reel off their mission or the vision no problem. But when I ask about values they go “ehm...”
— Samantha Martheze
Episode links
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Disclaimer: The following transcript has been auto-generated and then cleaned up by my wonderful VA – and while the general flow of the conversation is there, it’s probably not 100% accurate.
P: Welcome to the show, Samantha, thank you so much for joining me today.
S: Thank you so much for having me, I’m really excited to be here!
P: I know I’m really excited about our conversation as well, because today I get to geek out over a topic that’s really close to my heart with someone who’s equally passionate about that topic, which is: brand values and the impact that they can have on a business. So before we dive into the episode Samantha, I would love for you to tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
S: I help successful female entrepreneurs who want to align their brand and create a really strong message by creating a kickass brand. That’s what I do.
P: We’re going to get along like a house on fire today, I can already tell. Because this is almost as if I could have said it myself. So just to set the tone for those who are tuning in to the episode, what would you say that they could expect to take away from listening to our conversation today?
S: What I’m really hoping for is that your listeners will get a deep understanding of how important it is to stay aligned to their values and what the impact that can have, especially when they’re growing. In the beginning, everybody’s hustling. They’re doing all the things. But in that space you can forget how important your values are because you’re just in growth mode. I’m really hoping that this conversation will highlight the importance of values and help people to remember those when they’re building their business.
P: This’s a topic that I could literally talk about for hours on end. So where do we start? I’ll let you take the lead on this. Where would you like us to start?
S: Oh, that’s a tricky one. Where I’m working now is with a lot of people who have been in business for a couple of years. They know that they built something that’s amazing and they need to sort of up-level. But maybe we should take it back a little bit and talk about my journey through and understanding of brand values.
P: That sounds like a good starting point.
S: Okay, so I’ve worked in corporate. I’ve always been in corporate, and what I’ve noticed working with different major corporates is how brand values can impact your business. I’ve worked for some corporations that have been in high aggressive start-up and the brand values were a missing piece. Actually, the entire branding piece, the brand strategy piece, was missing. And how further on, 3-4 years down the line, it’s now a global enterprise, how much of a struggle it was to change that. And then I worked in other organisations where the brand values were the most important part. This is a really interesting organisation because they work with franchise owners and these franchise owners will have what they call area managers, line managers, and they’re the piece between the brand, the business and the actual franchise owners – and the difference that it can make when that is working well…
P: I imagine that there could be potentially quite a big gap there, in a business that’s franchise based, between what the founders had as a vision for the company and then… they have to literally place it in the hands of someone else to, you know, live that brand. And I mean they just have to, because that’s the business model of a franchise.
S: Exactly. And it’s really tough because I think, you know, it’s a lot of expectation for the franchise owners. They sign up and they might never have had a business before. Also in the industry I was working in, we had a lot of franchise owners that were looking to support their family, support their lifestyle, come out of maybe a teaching job or whatever it was. They hadn’t actually run a business to that level before, so all of a sudden they’re learning business management. They’re learning about revenue. They’re learning about sales. They’re learning about client management. The brand piece was difficult. It was really, really difficult because they didn’t get it. They didn’t understand from a marketing perspective, having not built a brand on their own, they didn’t really understand how important it was. So I think that that is really… It’s a tough challenge. You’ll find that with franchise owners, they’ll get the specifics, so get the training, they’ll get the brand documents. They’ll get advice on how to market and how to merchandise, but they don’t necessarily train and understand that that has to be intrinsic to the franchise owner.
P: Yeah, and I guess it’s something that each individual franchise owner… it’s so dependent on them and on how much they know and on the importance they place on this whole brand thing. I mean, I’ve met business owners who are just like”branding shmanding. It’s no big deal, just show me the money.” Well, you kind of need your branding to be in place so that you can make more money. But you know, some people just don’t have that mindset – and how do you deal with that?
S: It’s really interesting, because in this particular circumstance the entire foundation and training structure for field is based on brand values. You see the whole structure of the business is the top, supports the bottom. So everything has the support, support, support – and that was really evident because their brand values were about care, about support, about nurturing… So it was interesting because there was never a situation where the organisation was gonna come in and say, “If you’re not doing XYZ then sorry, we’re taking your franchise away.” It was a matter of getting them on side, and it was by managing. In a way, it was showing how to do it and leading by those behaviours to show them that’s what it was. And in the area I went into was notoriously, it was known to be quite a difficult area, and I walked in fresh out my training, really excited to go and change the world. Super, super passionate, and I walked into an area that had people that had franchises for 20 years+ – and they were not about to change with this person coming in just going, “Hey, let’s do this!” So it was quite a long journey and it was very much about relationship building. But I think what really started to happen was that once people started to come on side, their business started to become more successful. They were in the mindset of “I’m always doing what I’ve always done, and it’s fine.” So they didn’t really understand what the financial benefit was. But as you know, it was almost like chipping away one person at a time. Once I worked with one that was just opening up, and then I worked side by side to really help them to understand how they can change their business and how they can change how they deal with their business. It became really, really great because it was like a domino effect, one after the other, after the other… they started to see “Hang on a minute, this person was doing better than anyone had ever done in the area. Their business was more profitable than it ever was in the area.” So they started to buy into the ideas, and it meant that there was a heck of a lot of training. I spent a lot of time on the ground just really trying to work one on one, doing team trainings to try and work with franchise owners. And that’s what happened, really. So it was challenging but worthwhile. And it was nice because they got to see the benefit.
P: Yeah, but you wouldn’t have been able to go in and do that work, how you did it, if it hadn’t been for the strong values that were there as a foundation that you had to work from. I think the brand values are like the heart of a business and if that’s not in place it doesn’t really matter how much work, or how much training you do. It’s going to be hard. And that’s what I try to instil in my clients as well: this understanding that if you’ve built your foundations and they’re solid and they’re strong – then everything else just falls into place a lot easier. Not saying it’s gonna necessarily be easy, but at least you’ve got that north star. You’ve got that guide. You know… something to drive and inform your decisions, because when you’re a business owner, you have to make some tough decisions. Sometimes you end up in situations where you don’t want to be. And when you have your brand values in place, instead of just scurrying around and scrambling to try and find a way out of a tricky situation or figuring out what’s the best messaging for a product or service, you can look back at your brand values and they’re there to guide you and that’s the beauty of it.
S: I couldn’t agree more! I find that everybody in business knows what their mission is. Everybody knows what they want to do. They know what they want to achieve. They all know. But the most important part is that value piece, I call it the brand essence or the brand core. Those three things have to be aligned, because if you’re confused or when you’re busy, like you say, or if it’s a high stress situation or you have to make a decision really fast, you could make the wrong decisions. And what happens is; later on down the line. You’re either not happy. It’s not working for you. You start to feel disconnected. You don’t want to get up and go to work anymore, and that’s because it wasn’t aligned to your values. I encourage my clients to stick their values up somewhere in their office, on the wall, wherever. Even make a desktop screensaver and have your values rather than your vision of your mission statement, because I can tell you the amount of times I’ve had conversations with business owners, they can reel off their mission or the vision no problem. But when I ask about values they “ehm… ehm… ehm…”
P: And the temptation is so great, to just grab some generic value that sounds good. Or that everyone else is using, you know, like “professional, innovative”… All of these are kinda safe. I find that a lot of people don’t take the time to actually really stop and think, “what are my values, what are our values as a brand?” not like a copycat of someone else, but “what do we really care about?”
S: Think about your brand, your business, your brand, like a human. If you imagine that you’re with a living human, it’s like saying “Oh, I’m going to spend time with that person because I really enjoy them and I know it’s gonna be a beneficial relationship with both of us. It’s a two way street.” or… “I’m going to spend time with that horrible uncle that I really don’t like, and he really makes me feel uncomfortable every time I sit next to him.” So when you can take your values and understand that they’re the heart of your brand, it helps you to make better business decisions. And I think it’s really brave when people know their values and walk away from a business decision or business opportunity that isn’t right for their business. Because when you’re in that growth and you have those high targets that you’re setting yourself, to walk away from something that might be financially lucrative now because it’s not right for you, long term, I think that’s a really brave decision.
P: That is really brave. And it’s something a lot of business owners have to work on for a long time before they can get right. I have to say even for myself now, I mean, I work with brand strategy. I know the theory – and sometimes it’s still hard to make those decisions. But if I lean on my values and trust that “you know what… deep inside, I know what feels right to me and I’m gonna listen to that feeling” – that is when I make the best decisions and that’s when, even if it’s scary sometimes, that’s when the good stuff happens.
S: Absolutely. And I think it’s harder… not to be sexist here, but I think it’s harder for women, because we are such givers, we like to give. We want to do something. So it becomes really difficult for us to step away from something that will potentially help somebody else. And when you see an opportunity to go “Right. This actually isn’t right for me because it doesn’t align.”
P: I know a lot of people get a little bit skeptical because we’re talking so much about feelings – and feelings are really intangible and so personal… and like, do they even belong in the business sphere where you kind of feel like you have to fit into this fast paced, very strategic, very businesslike environment. Where do your feelings fit into all of this? Which is a challenge that I have with some of my clients: “No, we don’t need to think about this like value schmalue stuff; we are more concerned with the bottom line and making a profit and our growth for the next three years.” And what I like to say to those people who are feeling that resistance when I challenge them on their brand values is to think about their brand strategy, and brand values being part of that brand strategy, as the bridge between their business strategy and what their visual brand looks like. Because there is a gap there, and that gap needs to be bridged – otherwise it’s going to be misaligned and something’s just gonna feel off. When I use that analogy, it’s often easier for people to get on board with the fact that brand strategy is actually business strategy as well. It’s very closely interlinked.
S: I see it as the foundation of business strategy. So again I’ll go back to; you know what you want to achieve. You either have a service or product, so you know what you’re setting out to do. But your brand strategy and your brand development is the foundation of your house of business. Having that in place means that you can build a stronger business. It takes away a lot of time, a lot of effort. And I think if you think about people interacting with your business or your brand, you’ve got internal customers, I like to call them, your staff. You’ve got your suppliers, you’ve got your outward communications and marketing. All of those are impacted by your brand strategy. If you don’t have a brand strategy, there’s really mixed messages. So, you know, even doing internal external MPS scores and understanding what your perception is, or how people feel about you, what their experience of dealing with you is – that tells you how strong your brand is. That strategy piece is crucial to growing a long term and thriving business.
P: When you say growing, I think that is the key here as well. It might be easy to live those brand values when it’s just you in a business. If you run your business on your own, you are the business, and it kind of becomes one entity. You’re not separate from it. But as soon as you start to scale and bring people on – and I don’t I don’t even mean that you have to, like build a huge, massive team. But even just something as simple as bringing on a virtual assistant, someone to help you out in your business. When you’ve got your values in place, it’s so much easier to create that company culture that the people who then get on board your team – they have a guide for how to behave on behalf of your business.
S: Absolutely!
P: Because they are not you and they are not inside your head. And if you haven’t articulated your values, how are they going to know how to act when… say you’ve hired someone to manage your Facebook group, like an online business manager, and you’ve got a community manager going in and posting stuff in that group on your behalf. How are they going to know how to behave if you haven’t told them what the foundational brand values are?
S: Absolutely. And if they don’t understand that, because your foundational brand values, your business heart, business core, your mission… You know all the other bits, your brand personality that comes through in your brand message and your communication. And in larger organisations and businesses, everybody you hire is a brand ambassador, and that could be a good one or a bad one. They go home and say “I love working there” – you might not think that the reach is great, but it does have an impact. It has an impact in the area, it has an impact in their online presence. It has an impact on how they talk about you to their friends and family. And the word of mouth trickles massively. So I think having, you know, having that solid piece where you can help to train – because it does come down to training and it takes time. You’re asking somebody to put on a mask and a suit and to be your brand. And your brand is always your business, and I think that there’s also disconnect with that. People think business and brand are separate. They’re not, they’re one entity. So having that really strong foundational piece, having your strategy in place, understanding exactly who you are, how you want to be… like I say with your brand style, it’s who you are, how you sound, where you hang out. It’s all of those things, and it allows these people that you bring in, whether it is like you say: an online business manager, office assistant, it might be a social media manager. Or it might be that you have to hire an office administrator, or a warehouse operative or whatever it is. It helps all of that, and when it comes to the bottom line, this is where it can save you a lot of money. It can save you recruitment fees because you know the kind of person you’re looking for. You’re looking for the person that’s gonna align and be able to embody and present your business, your brand to the world.
P: Absolutely. So, whereas before we were talking about what to actually do and how it can help when you’ve actually already employed someone, this goes way, way, way further than that. It’s a tool that you can use to find the right people to employ. And then everything after that is going to be easier as well. Because if you attract the right kind of employees to your business, they are going to be much more likely to get on board with your brand values, they are much, much more likely to be a good representative for your business. And I mean, when your business grows past a certain point, you can’t do all of the client facing contact yourself. So then it becomes really, really important that whomever is answering your emails or… a really good example is when you’ve got a business and you’ve got a customer service department, because when people contact a customer service department a lot of the time it’s with a complaint, and they’re already not happy with something. They have a problem, and how that person handles that complaint or issue on behalf of your brand can make a huge, huge difference. If they handle it right, they can turn it around from something negative to something that people are going to then go and talk to their friends about and say “Do you know what, they kind of screwed up. But then they made up for it because they did this and this.”
S: It’s got such a knock on impact. And it’s one of the most undervalued parts of a first five year business I would say, because, like especially when you come to a managing director or you know, founder – they don’t understand how important that is. It’s just another thing. It’s almost like it’s a “nice to have.” And actually, if you do it well and do it early, it can save you thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds. It can also help you to retain the right people because you know how to retain them. You know how to look after them. You know what drives them. You know how to make them feel good and they will stay with you longer. They also get off to a running start a lot easier because they feel that they can really invest themselves into this. So it does have such a big impact. I just wish more people knew how important it was.
P: Yeah, I think it’s just so overlooked because it’s easier to just go for the tangible stuff that you see. And you know… it’s fun to start creating colour palettes and logos and all of the sexy parts of branding. Actually, a little anecdote from a call I had earlier today: I had a discovery call with a potential client who had reached out to me because she had me recommended. She’s in the starting phase of her business, and she’s a solo business owner. And so she was slightly uncertain about whether she could actually afford to invest in my services or not. And I mean, it would be so easy for me to just push on through or to sell her “just a logo.” But I would never, ever do that. So when that happens, when someone comes to me and says “Look, I can only afford a basic logo, I don’t want all of the other stuff.” I kind of politely have to tell them that I don’t do standalone logos without us working on the strategic part. So if your budget at the minute doesn’t stretch to that full thing, I would say “Don’t stress about the logo. You know, there is more foundational and important stuff that you need to have in place before you even start to think about your logo or your colours. Before you invest, just go back to the basics and think about who you want to be, what you want your brand personality to be, what your values are… and then In the meantime, just pick a fairly neutral font and a colour palette of a couple of colours and stick with it so that you’re still consistent. But don’t start messing about creating a DIY logo, hiring someone who’s just gonna whip it up without any kind of regards to the foundations of your business and where you want to go after, you know? Yeah, it could look pretty, but that would be it. There wouldn’t be any substance.
S: Yeah, I think that when it comes to visual identity, that’s what… like you say, it’s tangible. That’s what people know. They know “Okay, if I look at that, I know that it’s that brand.” But actually, most of the time these bigger, larger brands, the larger than life brands that you love and hold and cherish and stay true to – they are there because you feel something when you engage with them. So when you are early on and you are solo… and this is sort of where I’m at because my client base are people that have built a successful business, but they’re kind of DIYed it. They’ve got lots of bits going on. There’s pieces everywhere, and so they’ve built… It’s almost like they’ve built each section or each tool for their business individually. They’ve looked at the tool and how to use it, okay, and then it’s like a patchwork quilt. So what’s missing is the brand message. They know what they’re about, but they don’t know how to translate that. They’re not communicating the same message across each of their platforms and each of their tools. So I think that what you’ve done for this woman is absolutely spot on, because if she gets it right now, she can chop and change the colours. That’s not going to make an impact now, it’ll make an impact further on. That visual identity will be stronger when she’s got the value piece, the humanistic piece, the understanding, what messages… And it’s hard, like we’re talking about earlier, to turn somebody away that you know you can help, but it’s just not right.
P: It becomes easier once you know your own values and you know you know what you stand for. That’s what I found as a business owner, not necessarily as a brand strategist, but just as a business owner. To get clear on my own values has really helped me to be more confident in the way I show up. That can potentially be huge for a small business owner when they get that a-ha moment and then they start to actually dare show up as them.
S: It’s liberating!
P: It is really liberating. It’s scary as fuck (excuse my French)…
S: I’m so glad you said that, because I swear too and I don’t know if it’s appropriate (laughs).
P: Oh, I swear like a sailor and people are just gonna have to deal with it. That is part of my brand. That’s why my entire podcast is marked as explicit. Because yeah, I just can’t be bothered to censor myself and weigh every word that I say. And it’s funny that we’re talking about that because, you know, that is a part of my brand values. Like, at the core of my brand is freedom, and that’s freedom for people to be who they want to be. I mean, freedom can be a lot of things. It could be financial freedom. It can be freedom in many different settings, but first and foremost, just like the freedom to be you. And that goes for people’s brands as well. But the really scary part, when you start to own your values and start to really, you know, showcase them unapologetically. You will turn some people away. You’re gonna upset some people. I mean, I’m sure there are people who will listen to this episode and go “Oh, she said fuck. She didn’t even just say the f word. But she said it outright. Oh, no, get this person out of my earbuds!” But that’s fine. It’s fine if you can’t handle me as I am, there’s somebody out there who is a better fit.
S: Yep, Absolutely, absolutely. And I think going through my own experience, having been in corporate for so long and going through, you know, all these different environments where I’ve worked with international corporations – stepping out into my own it was really confusing because I was marketing lead for a lot of these corporations. So when I stepped out on my own, I didn’t know who the heck I was. I kind of just jimmied everything up. I had a few clients lined up before I even left, which was great, but it didn’t give me a chance to step back and go “Right, who am I? What am I? What is my language?” And even some of the very first blogs I wrote, they were sooo corporate. You couldn’t see my personality in it at all. And it was when I was like “right, this is not happening because I don’t know who the hell I am” and I don’t know, I wasn’t even proud to put it out there. I didn’t really want to go out and start pitching and looking for new clients because I thought “Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed because none of this feels right.” None of it was aligned. It’s on paper doing fine. Absolutely fine. But I wasn’t doing what I’m really passionate about and what I really enjoyed, and the clients I had weren’t all my ideal clients. So putting that break on, putting my stake in the ground and stopping, doing the brand strategy piece for myself, it was really liberating because all of a sudden it was okay to be me. It was absolutely okay.
P: I’m getting goosebumps and thank you for sharing that. And it’s funny that you shared that because I think our stories are fairly similar – I too, have a background in the more corporate world. And although I was the co-founder of a design agency and then went solo from that, I still had that corporate mindset. I was stuck in the corporate mindset that had been instilled in me from whenever I started working really. And that’s hard to shift, and it’s hard to get out of that feeling, like even down to the little details of feeling like if I’m not at my desk between the hours of 8 and 4, I am not working. What is all that about?!
S: Yes!
P: Well, who gets to decide what professional looks like? You know, whether I wear a suit or wear jeans and a T-shirt, whether I speak in a very corporate language or just as who I am. That does not impact my ability to do my job. And that’s, I think, something that a lot of new business owners, especially to kind of try and get past.
S: I think the big thing when you kind of step out on your own is you see people that have been in the industry or doing it for themselves for a while. So not only do you have… I think of it like a snake skin that you have to slowly shed, like a second skin that you’re trying to break up, but you’re really confused… What I found was that, for me, it’s how I showcase my expertise. So it’s like “right if I showcase all my corporate corporate,, people are going to see that I’ve got experience. I’ve done different things.” But actually I wasn’t talking to the right people, so I’m talking to other entrepreneurs and other small business owners and they’ve gone through what I was going through at that point. But I was still coming in hard and heavy, heeled and suit jacket, like you say, And it just was this kind of shock. If I think back on it now, I think I must have looked like a bull in a China shop. And not relatable, not relatable at all. But then what happened to me; I started getting comparisonitis, I started looking around and going “Okay, so here are all the people that are doing something similar to what I think I want to do right now. So I need to do all these things and I need to look like them.” And I didn’t know what the fuck (excuse my language) I was doing because I couldn’t get anything to sing. Like nothing was singing together. So I found that really interesting, and having to come out of that. And I think a lot of business owners can probably feel the same. Yes, you have competitors, but there is a piece of the pie for everybody. There’s so many people out there and your people will be your people. You just need to be yourself and figure out what your people need. Then you can actually start using your brand to talk to those people. That was a really interesting process for me.
P: Yeah, I can totally resonate with that. It was a really interesting process for me too. Well, similar to you, I just started out… I call myself an entrepreneur by accident because both of the companies that I’ve started – the one I co-founded and the one that I’m running now – were started by accident. They just came about. And so when I started this solo business, I didn’t know another way. So I was privileged enough to take some clients with me so I could hit the ground running. But I was just carrying on like I was when I was a part of that agency. And then I was like “Well, wait a minute. Why did I leave? I’m just, like, doing the same things. I’m falling into the trap of staying in the same track. But I am at the helm now, and I can actually make a decision to stop doing all this work that is driving me crazy and that is sucking the soul out of me for peanuts in return.” And it was liberating when I just sat down and thought about what I wanted out of my business and what direction I wanted it to take. And when I got clear on that, I mean, people should see the first brand for this business… It was so corporate. I thought I had to be so professional looking. And I said “Oh, screw this.” Trying to be someone you’re not is exhausting because you’re always putting on this facade. The magic that did happen… And I don’t know if you’ve had the same experience I have. I have an inkling that maybe you’ve felt this too. But when I started showing up more as me, the magic that happened was I started to connect with more of my kind of people, and I found a community of like minded people online, not just who became clients but also who became business buddies, friends, people to network with – and the opportunities that then came from that and finding that group… And I’m still amazed. I’m still finding more of these amazing people and I’m like “where, where have you been hiding all these years? Why have I not found this network of amazing people before?!” Looking back, I know it was because I wasn’t being myself fully. And so that’s the magic of brand values.
S: It’s when you’re authentically you and when you allow your business to be authentically itself, your brand to be authentically itself… the magic, I love that you used the word magic, because it does happen. There’s two things that I see. It creates clarity and it creates alignment. And those two things really help to grow a business. They are intangible, but they work and you feel it and you get up in the morning and you know exactly what you’re doing. You know exactly who you are selling to. You know exactly what you’re about. You go and you do your work and it’s work that you enjoy. And that’s something really worthwhile. And it’s the same. I’ve seen it. When a business is working in that way, it’s like a slick, well-running, well-oiled machine. It’s just beautiful. It’s singing. People are working well together. They collaborate. They are, you know, the business is running itself essentially, and it’s the same when you’re working for yourself. When you do step into your authentic self and you do the work to understand exactly what your heart says, what your values are, who you are. It just creates the most beautiful amount of alignment, and it attracts the right people.
P: Look at how we connected . We connected because I had connected with our mutual friend, and then she was like “You need to speak to Samantha, I will connect the two of you” – and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t showed up as myself in the first place.
S: I mean, we had a conversation prior to this, and we could have stayed online for ages chatting. It’s a beautiful thing and I think business owners just need to trust their gut and lean into it. Do the work. Do the brand strategy piece. Figure out exactly who you are and lean into it and it’s okay. It’s scary as hell. It’s so, so scary. I always think of that phrase: If you are something to everybody you are no one to anyone. That is something that’s really stuck with me because you can’t… when you’re trying to put yourself out there to everybody, you’re not getting the right people. You can’t grow. It actually limits your growth. When you really focus on who it is that you want to work for, who you want to serve, who you want to spend your 1 to 1 time with. That makes it so much easier to just go and speak to those people.
P: I’m loving this conversation and I feel like we could go on for at least a couple of hours more, but I think it’s about time we start rounding things off. So if you could only give our listeners one key takeaway from this episode, what would that be?
S: Take the time to sit down and figure out what your brand values are. Just be really, really clear, you know, even if you put it on a list and start knocking them down in order of importance. But take the time to do that. Stick it up on your wall, on your desktop computer, in your office, wherever it is. And every time you have a decision to make, look at those and figure out if it aligns.
P: I love every word of that, and I’d like to just add on: Once you’ve got your brand values, don’t just stick them on a sheet of paper or in a fancy report and put them in a drawer never to look at them again. Just, you know, use them!
S: When it’s busy you’re under pressure, it’s easy to forget, but if you’ve got them somewhere visually, you can pull on them at any time.
P: Brilliant. So if my listeners want to connect with you now and learn more from you, where is the best place to find you?
S: So I have a website which is thebrandconnection.co.uk, or you can find me on Instagram or Linkedin – those are the two places I hang out the most.
P: I also happen to know that you’ve got a fun freebie.
S: Yes, I do. It’s now live on my website. It’s a brand personality quiz that takes you through 10 questions and it will tell you which of the 12 brand archetypes your brand is, so it’s a really nice one to do if you’re thinking about humanising your brand.
P: That sounds really fun. So yeah, everybody go and take Samantha’s quiz. And if you do that, I would absolutely love it if you would go on Instagram, share your results and tag us because I’m sure Samantha would love to hear what results you got from that quiz too.
S: Absolutely.
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